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Halfway through his second term, the administration of President Barack Obama is actually growing more secretive, and is failing to live up to Mr. Obama's promise to lead the most transparent government in American history.

An Associated Press study of Mr. Obama's tenure released this week found that the administration is now more frequently than ever censoring files or outright denying public access to information under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Last year, the study of 99 federal agencies found, the clampdown on information was the harshest yet.

Even Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a usual administration ally, said that the growing trend of withholding documents under FOIA "is hindering the public's right to know."

The Senate can take a step toward improving the situation by approving the FOIA Reform Act, which the House passed unanimously last month. It's not a complete fix for the Obama administration's penchant for secrecy, but it's a start.

The bill would make a number of small adjustments to the 48-year-old FOIA to make it easier for citizens to seek government information and make it harder for the government to block access to information that the law says should be available. Notably, it would create a single Web portal for filing and tracking FOIA requests, and would expand the role of the chief FOIA officer in each agency to help ensure compliance with the law.

The bill is headed to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has often pushed open government legislation. We hope he'll do so again in this case. Maybe it's not too late to change the trajectory of secrecy in the Obama White House.